Fire teachers, or fix the system?

With California’s struggling school system entering another year, certain politicians, media outlets and reform advocates have collectively constructed a magical fix: “get rid of bad teachers.”

This approach has an intuitive appeal and sounds logical. However, people who work in education know there is a more significant problem which, if solved, would address the quality of all teachers. Teacher evaluation systems in most California public schools are outdated, ineffective and should be replaced.

Rather than helpful evaluations, most teachers receive a cursory glance and infrequent, bland feedback. Evaluators may be overworked and undertrained. There’s insufficient consensus to define quality teaching. Rather than address these underlying problems, bills in Sacramento and elsewhere in the nation focus on firing teachers; it has become trendy to offer tough talk on teacher quality, without first putting in place a proper system of evaluation.

As teachers, we want a robust and meaningful evaluation system. Accomplished California Teachers (ACT) is a teacher leadership network committed to providing classroom-based expertise to bring about better education policy. Our debut publication came out in June: “A Quality Teacher in Every Classroom: An Evaluation System that Works for California.”

The report was researched and written by teachers, drawing on our insights and experiences working with all sorts of schools, subjects and student age groups, all around the state. The resulting policy brief offers education stakeholders guiding principles to overhaul teacher evaluation. We do not argue that evaluation reform alone will be a cure-all, but we hope it will shift the focus of discussion toward improving teaching.

An overhaul of the evaluation system should be based on clear standards, incorporate student outcomes, adapt to fit the needs of individual teachers, and provide ongoing, practical feedback from trained evaluators. We have personally seen how rigorous evaluation elevates our teaching, both of us having subjected ourselves to outside evaluation.

Escondido math teacher Alex Kajitani spent his first five years of teaching just concerned with surviving evaluations. The goal was just to receive enough checks in the “proficient” boxes, from administrators who were caring but lacked the time to truly engage in dialogue to improve his teaching. Once he was in the running for California Teacher of the Year, Kajitani plunged into deeper examination of teaching methods and refinement of his skills. The more effective evaluation process was the one that was self-selected, rigorous and reflective, while the official school evaluation was mandated, identical for all teachers, and superficial.

David B. Cohen, of Palo Alto, is a National Board Certified Teacher, along with 4,500 other California teachers, and 82,000 in the nation. Certification involves submitting a four-part portfolio, with evidence of student growth and unedited video of classroom instruction; there’s also a six-part examination of content-area and pedagogical knowledge. Each candidate’s submissions are scrutinized by a team of trained evaluators. So, while Cohen was able to secure permanent status (often called “tenure” – though it’s not) as a high school English teacher based on a few observations by two principals who formerly taught science, he chose to pursue an evaluation process that actually led to improved teaching, while also validating quality teaching practices.

California policymakers also should look at superior site-based evaluation systems already used elsewhere. Effective systems empower teachers to take ownership of their profession. Contrary to the concerns that arise for some observers, a combination of data and anecdotal evidence shows that teacher-led evaluation programs are more effective at removing teachers for unsatisfactory performance. The authors of the ACT report concur that ongoing evaluations by classroom teachers familiar with the grade and subject area have more value in promoting improved teaching.

Here in the San Diego area, Poway Unified School District has a well-established program that trains effective teachers to support and evaluate new and struggling teachers. Teachers form the majority of the panel making final recommendations on a teacher’s employment in the district. The program’s existence came about through a positive working relationship between the district and the local teachers’ association, demonstrating that “the union” is not a monolithic obstacle to change, but can be a partner in education reform.

If San Diego and the rest of the state want to recruit, retain and reward effective teachers, we need to follow the lead of Poway and the suggestions of ACT: implement a new and collaborative system providing teachers with evaluations that elevate our teaching and our profession. Instead of focusing on the “bad teachers,” help us improve all teachers, even the Teachers of the Year.

Kajitani, the 2009 California Teacher of the Year, teaches mathematics at Mission Middle School in Escondido. He is a member of Accomplished California Teachers. Cohen teaches in Palo Alto, helps direct ACT, and was one of the authors of the ACT report on teacher evaluation.